July 26, 2024 — suggested reading: 1 Kings 9:1 – 11:13

“After Solomon finished building the Lordʼs temple, the royal palace, and all the other construction projects he had planned, the Lord appeared to Solomon a second time, in the same way he had appeared to him at Gibeon. The Lord said to him, “I have answered your prayer and your request for help that you made to me. I have consecrated this temple you built by making it my permanent home; I will be constantly present there. You must serve me with integrity and sincerity, just as your father David did. Do everything I commanded and obey my rules and regulations. Then I will allow your dynasty to rule over Israel permanently, just as I promised your father David, ʻYou will not fail to have a successor on the throne of Israel.ʼ

“But if you or your sons ever turn away from me, fail to obey the regulations and rules I instructed you to keep, and decide to serve and worship other gods, then I will remove Israel from the land I have given them, I will abandon this temple I have consecrated with my presence, and Israel will be mocked and ridiculed among all the nations. This temple will become a heap of ruins; everyone who passes by it will be shocked and will hiss out their scorn, saying, ʻWhy did the Lord do this to this land and this temple?ʼ Others will then answer, ʻBecause they abandoned the Lord their God, who led their ancestors out of Egypt. They embraced other gods whom they worshiped and served. That is why the Lord has brought all this disaster down on them.ʼ” 1 Kings 9:1-9

Once the people of Israel had crossed into the promised land, G-d told them not to intermingle with the people who lived in the land – do not marry their people, do not worship their gods, do not leave anything in its place. Instead, they were told to destroy everything. Now, this sounds like horrible instructions, but no matter, the people did not always do as G-d instructed. Eventually, their hearts and their loyalty to G-d was weakened by their presence among the people of these foreign lands, and soon they would also be worshipping other gods. It seems that Solomon, as wise as he was, fell into the same trap and to the same temptations as those many kings who went before him – and it led him and his people to future problems.

The Lord does not like it when we place our loyalties and our time for worship and praise upon other things – and upon other gods. It is the very reason the first commandment deals with our loyalty to G-d. Remember, our G-d is a jealous G-d who seeks a personal relationship with us – one that is not divided by other gods or other things that we might worship. But there are so many distractions, so many enticements in this world that constantly call us to follow them.

The good news is this: just like G-d does not give up on G-d’s people in the Old Testament, G-d will not give up on us. G-d will continue to welcome us again and again when we come to our senses, drop our loyalties to other

G-ds, and return to G-d with our prayers and praises.

Pastor Dave